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Barney Frank: Sen. Warren could be in 2016 mix

Former congressman Barney Frank is high on Sen. Elizabeth Warren as a presidential candidate. "If Hillary doesn't run, she's going to be very much in the mix," Frank told the Boston Globe about Warren, D-Mass

Former congressman Barney Frank is big on Sen. Elizabeth Warren's potential as a presidential candidate.

"If Hillary doesn't run, she's going to be very much in the mix," Frank told The Boston Globe about Warren, D-Mass. "Absent Hillary, it's a pretty open field. Joe Biden has a lot of support, but he's not in the kind of lock-it-up position."

Hillary, of course, is former secretary of State and U.S. senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, who is leading all public opinion polls for the Democratic nomination well ahead of the 2016 presidential race.

A potential candidacy by Warren, a rock star among liberals for her fights against Wall Street, has been talked about a lot since The New Republic wrote about whether the freshman senator would challenge Clinton to be the Democratic standard-bearer. Warren has proven she can raise campaign cash by hauling in $42.5 million for her successful race last year against incumbent GOP Sen. Scott Brown.

BuzzFeed reported recently that one of Warren's biggest financial backers, Paul Egerman, has been telling Democratic fundraisers that Warren won't be making a White House bid.

Frank, who retired from Congress in January, told the Boston newspaper that he has not spoken to Warren about her intentions. But the outspoken pol said he'd be surprised if she didn't think about it, using a baseball analogy to explain the allure.

"Think about somebody who's been playing shortstop in double-A ball for a few years," Frank is quoted as saying. "Do you think he would say, 'By the way, I don't want to go to the majors?' "